Friday 13 March 2009 10.31 EDT
First published on Friday 13 March 2009 10.31 EDT

Rape cases have long attracted controversy for their persistently low conviction rates and the associated questions of how the police and prosecutors treat victims of rape and bring cases through the courts.

The government estimates that as many as 95% of rapes are never reported to the police at all. Of the rapes that were reported from 2007 to 2008, only 6.5% resulted in a conviction on the charge of rape. The majority of convictions for rape resulted from an admission of guilt by the defendant, whereas less than one quarter of all those charged with rape were convicted following a successful trial.

Prosecutors have accepted a number of failures in dealing with rape, particularly since the publication in 2007 of the Without Consent report, which was highly critical of some aspects of the way the police and prosecuting authorities deal with rape cases.

One of the most serious problems has been the initial handling of rape complaints by the police. The 2007 report by Her Majesty's Chief Inspectorate and Her Majesty's Crown Prosecution Service Inspectorate, the independent inspectorates for the police and CPS, found that many officers dealing with rape victims had "very little training in responding to rape cases" and a "lack of awareness" of the need to follow the relevant guidance.

Victims were found to experience delays, "unpleasant environments", inappropriate behaviour by professionals, insensitive questioning during interviews and "judgmental or disbelieving attitudes" when coming forward with complaints of rape.

As a result, between half and two-thirds of rape cases did not proceed beyond the investigation stage. The majority of victims decide to withdraw their complaints, while high levels of rape complaints are essentially ignored, with reports pointing to scepticism on the part of the police and "the view that the victim lacks credibility".

"Rape cases raise very difficult and sensitive issues, which need to be addressed with more vigour by the police and the CPS," said lawyer Saimo Chahal, who has brought legal challenges against the CPS for its treatment of rape cases.

A number of steps have been taken to try to improve conviction levels, including new policy guidelines and specially trained police officers and prosecutors.

There has also been an increase in sexual assault referral centres, although critics say access to these varies hugely across different regions in England and Wales.

The government has acknowledged this "postcode disparity" and pledged to address it. "I have personally liaised with less well-performing areas and a range of national and local action is now in place to try and bring up the performance of all areas," Vera Baird, the solicitor general, said.

A spokesman for the CPS said: "The CPS recognises that the conviction rate for rape is low."

• This article was amended on 19 August 2011. The original did not make clear that the reference to 6.5% was for reported rapes that resulted in a conviction on the charge of rape. This has been corrected. In the same sentence the figure of 6.5% was wrongly compared with "34% of criminal cases generally". In fact the figure 34% was a misread reference in a press release by the solicitor general in 2008 that stated "34% of all [rape] cases prosecuted result in a conviction". The incorrect reference to "34% of criminal cases generally" has been deleted.